Gators, 'Canes to meet twice

Florida and Miami will play in 2008 and 2013 -- and then possibly in 2014.

February 28, 2006|By Dave Curtis, Sentinel Staff Writer

GAINESVILLE -- Florida Athletic Director Jeremy Foley confirmed Monday that the Gators and Miami Hurricanes will play two football games in the next eight years.

He also left open the possibility of a matchup between the schools in 2014 that would be held on a neutral field.

The teams will meet in Gainesville on Sept. 6, 2008, and in Miami on Sept. 7, 2013. The second game is set for the Orange Bowl, but Foley said if a promised $120 million facility renovation is not completed, the contract calls for the game to shift to Dolphins Stadium.

The games were set in those years, Foley said, because the NCAA allows for the season's 12 games to be spread over 14 weeks. In most years, including the next two, teams must cram 12 games into 13 weekends.

With the extra week, Florida can add a tough non-conference game early in the season and still keep its preferred byes leading up to contests with Georgia and Florida State. With a 13-week window, one of those bye weeks must be used for a game.

"I think this series is good for the state, and so does [UM AD] Paul Dee," Foley said. "But this series isn't going to work on a regular basis for that reason."

The proposed third game, to which neither school has committed, also would come in a season with 14 available weekends. Past discussions of a venue for such a neutral-site meeting included Tampa's Raymond James Stadium and Jacksonville's Alltel Stadium.

Foley said Monday that TV ranks as the biggest obstacle to making the 2014 game official. The Southeastern Conference has contracts with CBS and ESPN, and the Atlantic Coast Conference has contracts with ABC and ESPN.

"That's obviously a marquee ballgame, and both schools' television partners are going to want that," Foley said. "As we go forward in television negotiations, we need to talk about neutral-site games because that part of it makes it difficult."

In 2008, the Gators are scheduled to host USF and Hawaii early in the season before traveling to Florida State at season's end.

The Miami meeting is Florida's first non-annual rivalry announced for 2013.